The Death of Magnus Bane
by DeathandJunkfood
Summary: "Oh my Alec. I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you. But this is tragic, not tragedy. There were no inevitable steps towards my demise. I wasn't supposed to die either. But it happened, and you will live" As the title might suggest, Magnus dies. And it's sad. Alec cries, and I may have cried whilst writing it. Please read and enjoy, or cry as you will.
**As the title kinda suggests, this is sad. I might have shed a tear or two whilst writing it, but I really wanted to. Hopefully I did their goodbye justice. Reviews are treasured.**

 **Disclaimer... I do not own TMI or any of the characters.**

Alec had never really noticed how warm blood was. How slippery, and red. The smell spiralled, sharp bittersweet and metallic. It burnt against his skin and slipped over his fingers, getting under his fingernails and embedding itself in every crack and seam of his skin. And Magnus under his hands was getting colder. His golden skin was paler than normal under the blood, and it was everywhere. Speckling his soft lips, soaking into his plum coloured jacket and matting his spiky hair.

It had been so simple and fast. A demon with fangs longer than Alec's arm had scurried towards Magnus. Alec, behind him, was too slow even as he batted Moloch demons away from him with a glowing seraph blade. The fangs had fastened in Magnus's side with an obscene crack of bones and slurp of blood. Alec had screamed, an unholy raggedy sound that burned at tore at his throat. He found an arrow in his hand without noticing and nocked and drew and shot in one smooth motion.

He caught Magnus as the warlock teetered slightly in his platform boots, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Alexander" he said, and smiled gently as he folded softly into Alec's arms like a piece of origami.

"Magnus, hey, no, you're ok" Alec grappled to get his arms around Magnus. Normally, the warlock would fit perfectly in his arms, as they fit together like two halves of a whole, no matter how many times Alec told himself it was cliché and cheesy and embarrassing to even think it. Now, Magnus was too tall and skinny and limp and Alec just managed to catch his head before it clunked against the blood smeared concrete floor.

"Alec, are you hurt?" Magnus sounded concerned as he patted the Shadowhunter's cheek gently. "No, no I'm fine" Alec assured him, his hands frantic as he ripped cloth from his shirt to cover the awful teeth marks in Magnus's side.

"You know, it's funny" Magnus sighed, gazing at Alec fondly.

"I don't really see the humour in this situation, but continue"

"We thought you would die first. Remember what you're always telling me? It'd be a miracle if you lived to twenty-five. Well, you have to now. No choice. If I'm dead, then you have to live"

Alec stopped dead for a moment, mouth hanging open "we need to talk about your definition of 'funny'"

"Alec stop" any trace of levity had left the warlock's voice.

"I'm not stopping; I'm saving your life. Now shut up, you're losing a lot of blood"

Alec knew exactly how much blood his boyfriend was losing. He could feel it soaking into the knees of his jeans and staining his hands crimson.

"Do you know what kind of demon that was?" Magnus asked quietly.

"A big one, with teeth"

"It was an Achaieral, you impossibly stubborn Nephilim"

Alec felt a twisting sensation deep in the pit of his stomach. The name was familiar, but that wasn't what caused it. It was the exasperated love in Magnus's voice that would never fail to make him feel safe, and at home. But now it had an underlying tone of sadness that caused a wordless horror to seep through his blood and reach towards his heart.

"There's anticoagulant in the fangs. A very high concentration of it"

Alec swallowed, eyes wide as he met Magnus's golden green cat's eyes. "I'll give you my strength, we've done it before, you can heal yourself"

"Alec…"

That was what broke him. The sweet hopelessness in Magnus's voice that seemed to claw at his heart and makes him want to wrap his arms around the warlock and never let go.

"No" he sobbed "no please, Magnus, it was supposed to be me. _I_ was supposed to die first, it's not fair, it's not fair"

Magnus's head was cradled gently in Alec's lap, and the warlock reached up to stroke Alec's cheek softly. "Oh my Alec. I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you. But this is tragic, not tragedy. There were no inevitable steps towards my demise. I wasn't supposed to die either. But it happened, and you will live"

The tears that streamed down Alec's face washed away the dried blood in a stream of rusty red. Unable to speak, he bent his head to press his lips to Magnus's. The kiss was desperate and flavoured with salt and iron and their teeth hit together as they clutched at each other, both sobbing.

"What do I do?" Alec asked him, and Magnus looked at him fondly.

"You live for me and for your family and your _parabatai._ You live for all the ones that have died, and you grieve for me and remember to feed Chairman Meow and one day, you realize the smile on your face isn't faked, you're actually _happy_ and then you know you'll be ok. I know loss, Alexander. And I know it can break you, but I also know you and I know you are strong enough to survive it"

There wasn't really anything Alec could say to that. He had never been good with words, so he just held Magnus tighter, and whispered in his ear "I love you. I love you. I love you"

"I love you too" Magnus murmured, blinking slowly. A last slow grin crossed his face "Don't worry, love" he said, and then was silent and Alec watched as his breath faded and the light in his beautiful eyes sparked and disappeared and his heart stopped beating and held him as he died in his arms, slipping away quietly and softly and without another word.

Alec held him as the blood dried and glued them both to the ground, and Alec held them as the sun came up and sparked off the glitter in his hair, and Alec held him as Jace and Isabelle found him crumpled on the ground above Magnus's body.

Izzy let out a little cry and sank to her knees beside Alec, wrapping her arms tight around him and rocking him gently. Alec registered the paling of Jace's face dimly, and saw how he gagged slightly. He supposed they must be a sight. He was covered in blood and gore, and Magnus had a gaping hole in his side, and you could see the white glint of ribs. Iz tried to unwrap his arms carefully, but Alec shoved her aside, sending her sprawling. He felt a brief moment of guilt, but the blank emptiness returned as he pulled Magnus to his chest.

"Alec, oh by the Angel, Alec" Jace crouched next to him, his voice shaky. Maybe he could feel some measure of Alec's pain through the _parabatai_ bond. He hoped not. He didn't know how anyone could survive even a fraction of it. Jace's hands were warm and softer than Magnus's, whose had stiffened into claws and were cold and hard.

His _parabatai_ forced his frozen hands open and Alec noticed the sudden frozen ache in his fingers. As Jace carefully detached him from Magnus, Izzy picked up Magnus carefully and laid him on the ground, holding his head so it wouldn't hit the ground as she lowered him. Jace wrapped an arm around him and Alec leaned into him. He felt boneless and shivered slightly as Jace's warmth seeped into his skin. Neither Izzy nor Jace said a word as they pulled their brother to his feet and draped his arms over their shoulders.

They half dragged and half carried him away when he realized they were leaving Magnus. He screamed and fought them wildly as he tried to pull himself back towards the warlock, until he noticed silent tears streaming down Isabelle's pale skin and how Jace's amber eyes shone and looked glassier than usual.

He stopped, and stood up, and followed them numbly, feeling so, so cold. The jello like feeling had been replaced and now his bones felt lead like and stiff.

They stuffed him into a taxi and sat him in the middle, shielding him and pressing against him comfortingly. Alec didn't know what he was feeling. He just was cold and empty and knew he couldn't force words out of his mouth if his life depended on it.

The trip blurred until they pulled up in front of the Institute and Jace pulled him out, wrapping an arm around him. He was acutely aware of his blood covered skin as Iz and Jace walked him through the front door and Simon and Clary gaped at the sight of him.

"What happened?" Clary's voice was hushed and she directed her question to Jace.

A look of pain crossed Isabelle's face and she and Jace traded a glance above his head. Jace nodded, and Isabelle let go of Alec. As Jace pulled him from the room, he saw Izzy collapse into Simon's arms and begin to sob helplessly. Alec hadn't seen her cry like that since Max.

Alec realized Jace had steered them to his room. It barely looked like his anymore. He had mostly moved to Magnus's loft and the majority of his stuff had gradually moved there. Now, his room was just a bed, a closet with a few sweaters and pairs of jeans and a spare bow in the corner.

Jace sat him on the bed carefully and went through the adjoining room to the bathroom, returning a moment later with a damp rag with which he gently cleaned the blood from Alec's hands and face.

He didn't say a word, for which Alec was grateful. Finally, Jace sighed, put the cloth down, and sat beside Alec on the bed. "What happened?" he asked.

"It was my fault" Alec's voice was creaky and hoarse.

"No. It's never anyone's fault, really. We can blame ourselves but it's never our fault. It's the demon's fault and that's all"

"No it was me. I wasn't fast enough, the demon got there-" his voice cracked and stopped then, and Jace fell silent too.

Alec lay back on the bed and shut his eyes feeling the cold overtake his body and fill his heart and lungs and blood and there was complete and brutal silence.

 **Please review if it made you sad!**


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